Forging a link with ice and glass

Lea Ann Miller: Showcases her design sensibility at Simon Pearce

Published 9:56 pm, Friday, July 5, 2013

Lea Anne Miller places a vase from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

Lea Anne Miller places a vase from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their ... more

Lea Ann Miller moves plates on a table from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

Lea Ann Miller moves plates on a table from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase ... more

Lea Ann Miller looks at the poster of KP Love Your Brain bowl, from Simon Pearce, at Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

Lea Ann Miller looks at the poster of KP Love Your Brain bowl, from Simon Pearce, at Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of ... more

Lea Ann Miller places a vase on a table from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

Lea Ann Miller places a vase on a table from Simon Pearce, in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to ... more

K P Love Your Brain bowls are on a table from Simon Pearce in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Lea Ann Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

K P Love Your Brain bowls are on a table from Simon Pearce in Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Lea Ann Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to ... more

A vase placed on a table from Simon Pearce at Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
Lea Ann Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their work at Simon Pearce's retail store. less

A vase placed on a table from Simon Pearce at Greenwich, Conn., Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
Lea Ann Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, was the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their ... more

Lea Ann Miller has always felt a connection with the Simon Pearce brand, admiring the store's glassware and home decor items so much that she has stacked her kitchen with its products.

Miller, a Greenwich-based event planner, strengthened that connection when, last week, she became the first in a proposed series of local designers to showcase their talents at the Simon Pearce store on East Putnam Avenue in Greenwich.

Miller's display, a table heaped with flowers and decorated in shades of purple and white, used the store's goods to show her design sensibility. This is part of the store's efforts to invite the community into its locations, which stretch across New England, including Greenwich, New York, Boston and Simon Pearce headquarters in Queechee, Vt.

"Throughout all our stores we're trying to connect with the local community, so this works out really well," Meghan Mahoney, marketing specialist at Simon Pearce, said. "Lea Ann has just been a wonderful partner to work with."

Miller has a further link to the Pearce family, one that surprised her.

A former Olympic figure skater, she related to the story of Kevin, Simon Pearce's son, who suffered a traumatic brain injury while snowboarding in the run-up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, in which Kevin was expected to shine. The accident, and Kevin's recovery, was chronicled in the HBO documentary "The Crash Reel." She, too, had suffered brain injuries from skating training.

"I felt almost a spiritual connection to Simon Pearce," Miller said. "Maybe it's something about the ice and the glass. There's this circle about winter sports, glass, and the artistic side of things. I live with this glass every day and now they've given me this opportunity. Sometimes things in life just line up."

In her post-Olympic career, Miller transitioned from choreographing figure skating to event production, and noted that, like skating, planning weddings, corporate events and other parties requires a creative sensibility and an element of performance.

"Just organizing an event and getting that adrenaline rush when it all comes together -- it's the same," Miller said.

Miller will be Simon Pearce's designer in residence for the month, working partly out of the store during that time until the next designer, F.J. Truzuskowski of Flowermuse.com, takes the space.

"What I loved is that when I walked in, it smelled like peonies," said Betty Condon, a Greenwich resident who attended Miller's opening last week. "The colors are so nice, and I love Simon Pearce glassware."